1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for controlling vehicles transiting on a road and signaling vehicles which, in themselves or because of their drivers, are suspected to be irregular, unlawful or even dangerous, and, if desired, raising an alarm and/or permitting security personnel to stop the suspected vehicles and perform a thorough security check on the spot. Suspected vehicles may include those driven by possible lawbreakers or by unauthorized persons, those the appearance of which does not match their identifying numbers, those the plates of which appear not to be the correct ones or to be counterfeited, and so forth.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The control of vehicles, particularly motor cars and trucks or mini-buses or the like, for various purposes, is a presently daily occurrence. There may be different reasons for carrying out such a control. For instance, it may be feared or indicated by confidential information received, that the occupants of the vehicle transiting a given road may be involved or plan to carry out a terrorist activity and therefore all vehicles transiting on said road must be carefully scrutinized to identify any suspect vehicle and take the necessary action. Vehicles may be controlled also for the purpose of discovering stolen vehicles, or vehicles that violate the law in any way, such as by not having appropriate license or not having paid the required taxes and so forth. Be as it may, such controls usually involve stopping each vehicle at a given control station and obliging the following vehicles to stand in long queues, thereby disrupting traffic, causing inconvenience and sometimes serious damage by the resulting delays, and keeping a number of members of the armed forces or the police occupied in the lengthy and tiresome task of controlling each vehicle in detail.